• We have middling graduation rates (about 76 percent of Maine students graduate from high school on time, and of those, only about half enroll in college). According to the Washington, DC-based Alliance for Excellent Education, if half of Maine's 3600 Class of 2010 dropouts had graduated, the state would see an additional $1.7 million in tax revenue, 100 new jobs, and $22 million in economic growth. With vocational and alternative programs in the mix, the charter-school model could retain some of those dropouts.

• Perhaps most importantly, we scored abysmally in the US Department of Education's 2009-2010 "Race to the Top" education-reform competition, through which more than $4 billion was up for grabs. Out of 36 applicants, only three (Alabama, Mississippi, and Montana) fared worse. Race to the Top awards favored states with charter-school programs.

Okay, okay — we get it. Maine has got a ways to go. Can charter schools help us get there?

What charters might bring

A 2010 report by the American Institutes for Research — commissioned by the grant-bestowing Boston Foundation — found that two elements were especially significant in school achievement: length of the school day, and autonomy over staffing and hiring.

Charter schools have control over both these aspects of education because they are exempt from statutes and rules applicable to public schools and local school boards. While the legislation states that a charter-school teacher must "hold an appropriate teaching certificate," it also includes a rather wide exception for "those with an advanced degree . . . or unique expertise or experience in the curricular areas in which they teach."

"We have with our rural schools a lot of the same problems as inner-city schools," says Amanda Clark, Maine Heritage Policy Center development and research associate. "Drained funds and low achievement scores due to lower amounts of resources." Charter schools offer several potential remedies, she says. First of all, access to federal funds for which they are currently ineligible, like a $150,000 competitive grant for new charter schools. Secondly, "the ability to be more flexible with their school day and school year [and] to hire teachers from outside the regular arena." She also cites "accountability" that's akin to a business model — "if parents don't send their kinds to a charter school, they can be shut down." If the charter choice isn't an attractive one, it won't succeed.

That said, for every pro there are cons in the pro-charter chant. Alfond says that a mere 20 percent of charter schools perform better than public schools; 46 percent perform on par and 37 percent do worse. Other reports suggest that teacher turnover is higher at charter schools, which could be attributed to either teacher performance (and ease of firing) or teacher dissatisfaction.

But we're past the point of quibbling over studies. The law is on the books. What can we expect now?

Several observers have mentioned the former Good Will-Hinckley School — soon to be the Maine Academy for Natural Sciences, a magnet school focused on agriculture and forestry — as a likely candidate for charter authorization. Former Maine Speaker of the House Glenn Cummings, a reformed charter-school opponent who also advised President Obama on education issues, took over last year as the president of the school, located between Waterville and Skowhegan.

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Don't be an idiot We're all idiots when we're 18. We're all idiots for the first half of our 20s, and longer, for some. By saying so, we're not trying to insult anyone.

Local heroes of 2011 In the 14th annual edition of the Providence Phoenix 's Best issue, we highlight people and organizations who are doing exceptionally good work.

Leveling the playing field A few observations on Dena Riegel's " Striking Back: Turning Feminist Theory Into a Visceral Rape Deterrent " (April 29).

Reform comes to the supermax Less than three months into his job, Maine's new corrections commissioner Joseph Ponte has begun to dramatically reform the Maine State Prison's long-troubled solitary-confinement "supermax" unit.

A new documentary explores immigrant youth and their place in Maine and America "Back in the Congo, we heard rumors that America is paradise — where everything is perfect, money flows like water, you can eat as much as you want, whenever you want, you can get anything," says Emmanuel Muya, one of 15 immigrant high school students featured in a new documentary, The Whole World Waiting , which will premiere at SPACE Gallery on Thursday.

Grad students get the knife On July 1 graduate and professional students will no longer be eligible for federally subsidized Stafford loans.

Maine a model for solitary-confinement reform In the first-ever congressional hearing June 19 on the widespread use of solitary confinement in America's prisons, Senator Richard Durbin spoke favorably of the Maine prison system's substantial reduction of inmate isolation as he pressed the federal prisons chief to re-examine that agency's use of it.

Review: Won't Back Down Daniel Barnz's picture turns the American education crisis into a dumbed-down, Capraesque crowd-pleaser, with a malicious agenda to boot.

Education reform: The battle ahead Five years ago, as George W. Bush was pushing No Child Left Behind, his younger, even sleazier sibling Neil was picking the initiative's pockets.

ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE | July 24, 2014 When three theater companies, all within a one-hour drive of Portland, choose to present the same Shakespeare play on overlapping dates, you have to wonder what about that particular show resonates with this particular moment.

CHECKING IN: THE NEW GUARD AND THE WRITER'S HOTEL | July 11, 2014 Former Mainer Shanna McNair started The New Guard, an independent, multi-genre literary review, in order to exalt the writer, no matter if that writer was well-established or just starting out.

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